This photo provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment shows Charlotte Le Bon, left, as Annie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit in a scene from TriStar Pictures' "The Walk." “The Walk,” is a fictionalized rendering of Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire stroll between the World Trade Center towers.

Image Credit: Takashi Seida/Sony Pictures Entertainment via AP

October 04, 2015 - 2:30 PM

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Ridley Scott's 3-D space epic "The Martian" touched down in theatres with a robust $55 million at the weekend box office.

The 20th Century Fox release, starring Matt Damon as an astronaut left for dead on Mars, proved moviegoers remain drawn by the gravitational pull of space adventures. The estimated North American opening of "The Martian" surpassed that of Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" and virtually equaled the debut of Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity."

Last week's box-office champ, "Hotel Transylvania 2," slid to second with an estimated $33 million.

Denis Villeneuve's drug war thriller "Sicario," starring Emily Blunt, shot up to third with $12.1 million for the acclaimed Lionsgate release.

Ahead of a wider opening next week, Robert Zemeckis' 3-D "The Walk" opened on 448 Imax screens but took in only $1.5 million.